Contents

History

Belladonna was one of the three remarkable daughters of the Old Took.[1] She had eight older brothers (and one younger), and was the eldest of the three daughters.[2] Belladonna married Bungo Baggins, who built a spacious hole for her (partly with her money).[1] It became the residence of the Baggins Family, and in Third Age 2890, her son and only child Bilbo was born. She died in Third Age 2934,[2] eight years after her husband.[3]

Etymology

belladonna is the name of a poisonous plant,[4] fitting in with the Hobbit-habit of naming girls after flowers.[5]

The word is understood as an Italian name, a rarity among Hobbits (though her sisters Donnamira and Mirabella share this peculiarity) and translates as "beautiful lady" although it derives from Latin bladone "nightshade".

Inspiration

In her first appearance in the fiction, Belladonna - which has stayed unchanged from the earliest survived sketch of the story[6] - is described as "one of three remarkable daughters of the Old Took". Humphrey Carpenter, in his attempt to draw an analogy between Bilbo and Tolkien, noted that Tolkien's mother, Mabel Suffield, was one of three remarkable daughters of John Suffield, who lived to be nearly a hundred.[7]